Police disperse Zimbabwe peace vigil with tear gas

The Associated Press

Witnesses say police in Zimbabwe fired tear gas to disperse worshippers outside a church who gathered to pray for peace.

Riot police also sealed off a nearby Roman Catholic church in Harare where the Christian Alliance group had first organized a daylong prayer vigil Saturday. Police said the meeting had not been approved. Organizers then moved to another church a few streets away.

The Zimbabwe prime minister's party, in a shaky two year coalition government and a member of the Christian group, said in a brief statement Saturday that several people were hurt as they fled the tear gas.

Several meetings of the prime minister's party have been banned since President Robert Mugabe called for elections this year to end the coalition he was forced to join after disputed, violence-marred elections in 2008.